The Alliance

The entire value chain must work together to meet growing demand for food, fiber and fuel in a sustainable and responsible way.

Field to Market: The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture brings together a diverse group of grower organizations; agribusinesses; food, beverage, restaurant and retail companies; conservation groups; universities; and public sector partners to define, measure and advance the sustainability of food, fiber and fuel production in the United States.

With the world population estimated to exceed 9 billion by 2050, the entire value chain must work together to efficiently and responsibly lay the groundwork for the future. From the farm gate to the retail and restaurant counter, the challenge of producing enough food, fiber and fuel for a rapidly growing population—while conserving our planet’s natural resources—has become increasingly complex. The nature of this challenge requires an unparalleled level of transparency and collaboration.

By uniting the agricultural supply chain and key stakeholders around a common measurement framework, Field to Market seeks to drive continuous improvement in the sustainability of commodity crop production.

Our Vision

To champion solutions for tomorrow's safe, accessible, and nutritious food, fiber and fuel in thriving ecosystems.

Our Mission

To meet the agricultural challenge of the 21st century by providing collaborative leadership that is:

Transparent

Grounded in science

Focused on outcomes

Open to the full range of technology choices

Committed to creating opportunities across the agricultural supply chain for continuous improvements in productivity, environmental quality, and human well-being

Our Goals

Field to Market is working to meet the challenge of producing enough food, fiber and fuel for a rapidly growing population while conserving natural resources and improving the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

The organization and its members recognize that a critical component of any sustainability goal is the maintenance of economic viability for farmers. Field to Market will provide useful measurement tools and resources for growers and the supply chain that track and create opportunities for continuous improvement. Our efforts are guided by the following goals:

Energy Use – Sustained improvement in energy use efficiency from U.S. crop production

Greenhouse Gases – Sustained reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from U.S. cropland per unit of output, and sustained contribution to addressing the overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture, recognizing the need to meet future crop production demands.

Irrigation Water Use – Sustained contribution to solving regional water scarcity problems through continual improvement in irrigation water use efficiency and conservation.

Land Use – Sustained improvement of land use efficiency by increasing productivity on US cropland, conserving native habitat, and enhancing landscape quality.

Soil Conservation – Sustained reduction in soil erosion to tolerable levels or below on all U.S. cropland.

Water Quality – Sustained contribution to solving regional water quality problems as evidenced by reductions in sediment, phosphorus, nitrogen, and pesticide loads from U.S. cropland.

To achieve these goals, Field to Market will seek to engage 20% of productive acres of U.S. commodity crop production, the equivalent of 50 million acres, in its Supply Chain Sustainability Program by 2020. To measure progress against these goals, outcomes will be measured and reported based on a five-year rolling average.

Field to Market will promote a research agenda to address questions about the ability of U.S. agriculture to achieve:

Absolute GHG emissions reductions, accounting for soil carbon sequestration and other advances in accounting for GHG emissions in crop production

Conservation of native habitat, enhancement of landscape quality, and improvement of conservation outcomes

Overall maintenance and improvements to soil health.

Our Governance

Field to Market uniquely brings together stakeholders from across the agricultural supply chain and acreates unparalleled opportunities for collaboration. This multi-stakeholder approach ensures balance through the governance and decision-making bodies of the organization in which each voting sector has equal representation and voice.

Each of Field to Market’s five membership sectors has balanced representation in our governing bodies, guaranteeing that Field to Market’s metrics, benchmarks, policies and program can be implemented by all stakeholders. This governance model provides credibility, harmonizes efforts and creates efficiency for the Alliance’s diverse membership.

Our Story

For the last decade, Field to Market has provided an important convening platform for diverse stakeholders across the agricultural supply chain to address the challenge of producing enough food, fiber and fuel for a rapidly growing population, while conserving our natural resource base.

Our program has evolved significantly over time, first focused on defining sustainable agriculture and developing science-based metrics to measure sustainability outcomes through a multi-stakeholder approach to creating tools and resources that can help create opportunities for continuous improvement in productivity, environmental quality, and human well-being across the agricultural supply chain.

Join Us

Transformation of the market and creation of shared value requires a commitment and dialogue from the entire food, fuel and fiber chain. Consumers are asking more questions about how their food, fiber, and fuel is produced. Field to Market helps bridge a common gap in supply chain analysis by providing more on-the-farm information, while connecting stakeholders throughout the chain to:

Create and leverage outcomes-based approaches that are grounded in science to support continuous improvement

Together, we can expand the conversation of agricultural and food sustainability from the farm gate to the retail and restaurant counter, preparing all sectors of the industry to better answer questions about environmental, economic and social impacts and promote sustainable production.